Gusztáv Batthyány
Encyclopedia
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
where he was commonly known as Count Batthyány.
Batthyány was the son of Count Antal Batthyány de Németújvár and of his wife, Countess Mária Anna Festetics de Tolna. His family set was Németújvár
Güssing
Güssing is a town in Burgenland, Austria. It is located at , with a population of 3,811 , and is the administrative center of the Güssing district.The Güssing Castle, built in 1157, is the oldest castle in Burgenland and a regional landmark....
in western Hungary (now in Austria). The Batthyány
Batthyány
Batthyány is the name of an old distinguished Hungarian Magnate family. The members of this family bear the title count or countess respectively prince or princess Batthyány von Német-Ujvár...
family can trace its roots to the founding of Hungary in 896 AD by Árpád
Árpád
Árpád was the second Grand Prince of the Hungarians . Under his rule the Hungarian people settled in the Carpathian basin. The dynasty descending from him ruled the Hungarian tribes and later the Kingdom of Hungary until 1301...
to one of seven princes called Urs.
As a young man Batthyány emigrated to England where he became well known as an owner and breeder
Horse breeding
Horse breeding is reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of selective breeding of animals, particularly purebred horses of a given breed. Planned matings can be used to produce specifically desired characteristics in domesticated horses...
of Thoroughbred
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...
racehorses
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...
. In 1843 he estasblished his own stud operation and in 1859 was elected to the Jockey Club
Jockey Club
The Jockey Club is the largest commercial organisation in British horseracing. Although no longer responsible for the governance and regulation of the sport, it owns 14 of Britain's famous racecourses, including Aintree, Cheltenham and Newmarket, amongst other concerns such as the National Stud and...
. He hired trainer
Horse trainer
In horse racing, a trainer prepares a horse for races, with responsibility for exercising it, getting it race-ready and determining which races it should enter...
John Dawson to condition his horses at Newmarket. In 1875 his horse Galopin
Galopin
Galopin was a good British Thoroughbred racehorse and a prominent sire.-Pedigree:Galopin's sire, Vedette, had a very good racing career, winning the Great Yorkshire Stakes, the Doncaster Cup , and the 1857 2,000 Guineas Stakes. Vedette's value as a stallion had declined to such an extent that he...
won the Epsom Derby
Epsom Derby
The Derby Stakes, popularly known as The Derby, internationally as the Epsom Derby, and under its present sponsor as the Investec Derby, is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies...
and went on to be the Leading sire in Great Britain and Ireland in 1888, 1889 and 1898. Galopin was the damsire of Bayardo
Bayardo (horse)
Bayardo was a British bred Thoroughbred racehorse with an impressive record, both on the racecourse and at stud, where he was a leading sire.-Pedigree:...
and of the 1886 U.K. Triple Crown Champion, Flying Fox
Flying Fox (horse)
Flying Fox was a British Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1899 English Triple Crown Races and was the leading sire in France three times.-Breeding:...
.
Batthyány was involved in the Magyar national movement as a member of the constitutional Hungarian Ministry of 1848. In 1851 he signed a letter together with Count Kázmér Batthyány
Kázmér Batthyány
Count Kázmér Antal Ferenc Batthyány de Németújvár was a Hungarian politician, who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. At the beginnings he was a conservative aristocrat politician but his views changed after an journey to Western Europe. He continuously...
, Bertalan Szemere, and Prince Paul Esterházy to his old friends, the Duke of Wellington
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS , was an Irish-born British soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century...
and Lord Melbourne
William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne
William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, PC, FRS was a British Whig statesman who served as Home Secretary and Prime Minister . He is best known for his intense and successful mentoring of Queen Victoria, at ages 18-21, in the ways of politics...
accusing Lajos Kossuth
Lajos Kossuth
Lajos Kossuth de Udvard et Kossuthfalva was a Hungarian lawyer, journalist, politician and Regent-President of Hungary in 1849. He was widely honored during his lifetime, including in the United Kingdom and the United States, as a freedom fighter and bellwether of democracy in Europe.-Family:Lajos...
of high treason and terrorism. This letter exposed the divisions in the Magyar national movement to English supporters.
In 1838 Batthyány donated his entire library including the Rohonc Codex to the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
The Hungarian Academy of Sciences is the most important and prestigious learned society of Hungary. Its seat is at the bank of the Danube in Budapest.-History:...
.
In 1870 Batthyány's second cousin Philipp, 4th Prince Batthyány-Strattmann died without children. Batthyány succeeded as the 5th Prince Batthyány-Strattmann.
Batthyány died in 1883 after suffering a heart attack while attending a luncheon at the Jockey Club. His heirs sold off his bloodstock at the Tattersalls
Tattersalls
Tattersalls is the main auctioneer of race horses in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. It was founded in 1766 by Richard Tattersall , who had been stud groom to the second Duke of Kingston. The first premises occupied were near Hyde Park Corner, in what was then the outskirts of London...
July Sale at Newmarket.
Marriage and family
On December 14 1828 Batthyány married Freiin Wilhelmine von Ahrenfeld. They had two sons:- Edmund, 6th Prince Batthyány-Strattmann (20 November 1826 - 29 October 1914)
- Count Gustav Batthyány (3 September 1828 - 27 August 1906)